Tuesday, August 18, 2009

CCP have today taken the wraps off Dust 514, a "hybrid MMO/FPS" that not only brings the world of EVE Online to consoles, but somehow ties the game to the PC MMO as well.

Apparently the game will "interact directly" with the PC title, allowing console gamers to manually fight out the battles for planets that are part of the larger MMO conflict.

It will do this by combining FPS and RTS mechanics. The game is being worked on by CCP Shanghai, and there'll be more details announced during CCP's big fan get-together in Reykjavik, Iceland in October.

Are you getting what I'm getting? It's kind of existential in execution. Think about this . . . a game where not all the players are playing the same game . . . or having the same experience. Maybe as you are leveling some or all your "mobs" in an instance are your casual console players playing a game as a first shooter . . .

Think about it. Shirley, this means something!

That's right . . . aliens have better base!!!!!

Also . . . oddly enough . . . universal health care, but they are actually coming to the United States for treatment. It's an odd universe.

However, it always seems they never seem to understand they are commenting academically on a purely commercial venture. What I mean is that the design is to a purpose that to me (I’m out of step, no doubt) seems to be ignored by the academic commentary. It is like a talk on the social aspects of heroin culture without commenting or taking into context their own addiction . . . or that heroin isn't produced for ANY reason other than commerce though it is consumed for other reasons. All of these worlds are designed to dope and drug and delude us. The designers are pushers and the users are . . . err . . . users.

Ugh, can’t we all remember that college dorm room conversation about the aesthetics of something the person loves? You remember? Every sentence started with “man”. I’ll admit it all seems full of sound and fury, but . . . is it serious? Or is it just sentimental and self-justifying?

“Large Scale Knowledge Economies”

“Distributed Joint Coordinated Action”

He is wrong in “better” when it comes to sources of information. That presumes all information is of equal purpose and use. Different sources provide different information and . . . there is no “better”, but best for the situation you are seeking. There is no tool in the toolbox that is "better" outside of context.

“Distributed Knowing and Cognition”

“Space, Place and Geography”

Why do they always talk about these games in present tense? Most of my sense of place with WOW was always a sense of history and not present status. What was its name? Hogler? Man! The first time Linda and I in our wee aspects killed it . . . is a real memory for me with real emotions and real history.

I'd say you could almost argue that while often our relationships are affected in the imperfect present tense that it is within the history that they are valued. All this talk of presence ignores "pre", but that perhaps my prejudice.

One thing I’d say that WOW does is . . . distributed disconnected community memory (HA! I can do it too!!!) . . . meaning, you can be part of a community that shares the same memories of the same events that they however did not share together.

“Network of Imagination = Co–Presence + Community of Interest + Network of Practice”

This is totally personal in my experience, but I always felt my present was based mostly in my past when it came to WOW. The gear I wore . . . the lore I knew . . . the next quest you needed, but I’ve done . . . it was my history and not my present that held me in the game and community.

Funny, I quit when I had learned as much as I could take. When I think on WOW . . . I yawn. In no way a slight to those still there. Yet, I had learned what was worth learning about the game and about the rest. Regardless of the dramatic theatrics . . . not once from the moment I left did I ever feel there was something unlearned in WOW . . . never was there a pang to return and even now I actually have a loathing at the thought of returning. Yet, I have NOTHING to learn in Planetside, but I continue to play . . .. . .

There is a bit of blah blah blah here in he 36 minute range.

. . .

Hey, he mentioned Constance . . .

I swear that “Steinkuehler” is a great toon name.

“Avoidances”

“The skill of the 21st century isn’t cheating, but knowing who to cheat off of”

Great comment.

“Dashboard skills”

“In terms of visualizing information . . . you can’t see what is happening at that most basic level because what is happening in that game doesn’t matter. What matters is the information I am getting and how I process it and what that user interface tells me what to do.”

“New networks of imagination” . . . applause.. . .

“The minute a player sniffs out a learning objectives the first thing they do is subvert it, O.K.?”

1:01:15 . . . first and only brilliant and truly insightful comment.

. . .

As a teacher . . . "expertise vs. competence" . . .

. . .

"I hung out with firefighters, truck drivers, republicans . . . you know . . . people I would NEVER (look at his snear!) talk to in normal life." Some in the audience laughs in agreement.

All in the context of talking about someone saying something is "gay"? Is where a penis is placed more important than a practiced profession or a professed political view? Seriously, does he really think civil servants or conservative citizens are . . . what? . . . beneath him? Or that he is better than? DO all academics feel this way? Do the majority? (The majority I know do).

"I thought, this is a lesson about homophobia and language and these kinds of things that these kids learn in a way that is so profound and powerful that I can't imagine very many other context in which that can happen, so I saw that as a kind of learning experience which was great."

Irony is always lost on bigots.

I always thought if I ever made it into the ivory tower it would be free of this type of bullshit . . . this unintellectual and unintelligible idiotcy. I always held those in there in higher regards than they seem to hold firefighters, truck drivers or republicans. I can only hope a republican burns his house down while the firefighters laugh. As for the truck drivers? They have more important real things to do than deal with academics.

Academics (like celebrities) should ALWAYS avoid social commentary. It only undermines the purity of their art.

. . .

"The ethics are in the hands of the players"

Really? Or is it the cabal?

"What constitutes citizenship in World of Warcraft. What does it mean to be a good member of the community?"

There are those with power doing what people in power do and don't do in any and all human contexts. It is an odd sense of "community" that is controlled by five unassailable (or uninterested) overlords. Also, a community with blue collar or right wing folks? How the mighty must slum for fun!

. . .

All in all it is the usual self-justifying type of talk with the occasional interesting turn of an academic phrase. The idea of learners trying to subvert the lessons is the most interesting thing here if you ignore the naked bigotry of the speaker and audience at the end . . . which . . . how could you if you had actual integrity as opposed to academic integrity?

Monday, August 03, 2009

"Makes you wonder; since so few of you will have actually played this game, what does it say about us that we find a game world's destruction infinitely more entertaining than its creation or existence?"